This entry contains legacy content from the earler Phish.net's FAQ file and/or from earlier editions of The Phish Companion. It may be incomplete and/or out-of-date, but we hope to update it soon.

Born Michael Eliot Gordon on June 3rd, 1965.

Family: Mike was born in Boston, MA. He moved to Sudbury, MA, a suburb outside of Boston, in 1968. His father Robert Gordon founded the Store 24 convenience chain. His mother Marjorie Minkin is a painter (featured in the song “Minkin”), and is responsible for the creation of the "Minkin backdrops" that were used on stage in 1994. Marjorie also collaborated with Mike in 2003, creating custom pieces of art related to his 2003 solo album. Mike has one brother, David, who is an Environmental Lawyer. Mike married Priscilla Foster (illustrator for Mike's Corner) on 6/20/98, divorced several years later, and is now remarried with a daughter (and a parrot named Angel) and living in Vermont.

Education: Attended Solomon Schecter, a Jewish Day School in Newton, MA, and Sudbury High School. He entered the University of Vermont in the fall 1982 (through spring 1987), originally studying electrical engineering. He later switched his major to Film and Communications, at which time he produced his senior project film TVF. He holds a bachelor's degree in Arts from the University of Vermont.

Nicknames: Cactus (possibly since the last 1980s, leading to the line "swim with the Cactus"), Michael “Soft G” Gordon, Gacht, Gactin, Toidler and Ta-a.

Previous Bands: Tombstone Blues Band (1960s blues and rock) and The Edge (new wave, with some originals) both in high school, and Dangerous Grapes (loud and hard, with Fishman) in early 1984 at UVM (while Trey was suspended).

Other Projects: A filmmaker, Mike directed and produced Phish's one and only music video for “Down with Disease”; Tracking, a documentary of the production process behind Hoist; Goodwood, a short film about Phish at Great Woods; Stewart, with Page in the title role and Fishman’s critique as a coda; Outside Out (2001); and Rising Low (2002). Mike also composed two independent film scores for his mentor, Ted Lyman, a UVM art professor. He wrote the book Mike’s Corner, and dabbled in acting by played a “deluded rock star” in John O’Brien’s Nosey Parker (he also acts in Outside Out).

Donate to Mockingbird

Contact Us

The Mockingbird Foundation

The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in 1996 to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community.

And since we're entirely volunteer – with no office, salaries, or paid staff – administrative costs are less than 2% of revenues! So far, we've distributed over $1,000,000 to support music education for children – hundreds of grants in all 50 states, with more on the way.